Impacting the World with the Gospel of Grace

About

Hi. My name is Charlie Marquez. I am the founding pastor of Impact Church in Southern CA. This site is a record of my personal journey back to the grace of God.

Legalism and moralism are subtle yet destructive enemies to a humble walk with Jesus. I say they are subtle because sometimes they masquerade as deep devotion and commitment. They are destructive because their effects, pride or condemnation, have profoundly impacted contemporary Christianity. I was one of their victims. Subtle enemies require a bold defense. That bold defense is a decision to turn back to the Cross of Christ the Savior and lean on God’s grace instead of our own abilities and efforts as the means to secure God’s blessing. This blog is simply a place to think out-loud and share my learning and experiences with anyone willing to take this journey with me.

I have come to realize that for much of my 20 years as a Christian, I have derived my personal identity from living up to an image (an idol) that I created in my mind. It was the image of a “good Christian.” Recently I heard the clarion call of the Holy Spirit; with the help of some of the leading voices in the Church today. I realized that these faithful brothers had an understanding of the gospel and grace that was significantly deeper and fuller than my own. What I had come to believe over the years was that the gospel was simply the truth that we believed to “get saved” and, in the day-to-day life of a Christian, grace was what I needed when my effort to be holy fell short.

I didn’t know how wrong I was or how thirsty I had become until I stumbled, panting and parched, upon the inexhaustible oasis of God’s grace. It was then that the idol I had previously erected began to crumbly under the weight of my self-righteousness and the realization of the depth of the sin that still remained in me. But it was also then that I saw, for the first time in a long time, my perpetual need for the Good News of the gospel of Jesus and the endless supply of grace that it affords. I realized that the gospel was not for the unbeliever only. It is for me – and I need it every day. It was when that truth became a reality to me that I was truly, wholly, finally free.

That is what Grace Impact is about. Join me on the journey into the fathomless depths of the amazing grace of God.

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8 thoughts on “About”

May God bless and use you to spread His grace and mercy to His sons and daughters. And thank you for subscribing to my blog IMMORTALITY ROAD. None of us have even scratched the surface of His abundant grace. I keep hearing that line by the apostle Paul: “If God be for us, who can be against us”! God bless. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Hi! Just wanted to thank you for subscribing to my blog! Yours looks great, going to have to check it out.
Blessings on your writing endeavors! Thanks again.
~ RuthAnne from Out of the Ordinary Dreamer

Hi Charlie, I am excited for your new ministry. Praying for you and Julie. Please pick up Anne Graham Lots book “Wounded by the Church”, the pain “the church” is putting people through is not the heart of God. This upbringing by the church or in the Calvary’s crept in so silent, but deadly as most of us learned and then copied the pattern ourselves. We accepted The Lord, got involved in minisrty and actually believed we were better then everyone else. Our positions became who we were in Christ instead of that flowing living water of the gospel flowing through the sick, sin in our churches. Judgment begins in the house of The Lord, but we tend to give greasy grace to leaders because of their position and are not honest about the ladder climbers and power hungry people who serve the position in the church rather then The Lord. The best thing that has happened to me was getting a job outside the church, and realizing that the world is full of patient, kind people who need The Lord just as bad as I did. This book is a warning to all Pastors and believers the dangers of how we get complacent and begin biting and devouring one another. I never thought it would happen at my church, but it is the last days, so why am I surprised. May God use us to raise this next generation not to fear the world, or think we are better, but to be as Jesus. In the world not of it, being light in the dark, not building a so-called heaven on earth. For who are we kidding, the church, our taste of heaven should have more of those that are going to hell in it. We are lukewarm and we know what Rev. 3:16 says So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth!
17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, and need nothing,” but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
May we repent, get back on track, judge ourselves, love the sheep and not let the position in the ministry blind us from the love we are to have.
For 1 Cor. 13 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.

It’s all nothing if our sheep leave hurting, and unloved, we are responsible, because we misrepresented God.